Staggered Moments
by Gabiroba
Summary: Part 2 of series Moments. Jack and Irina share some time away from it all. AU.


**Staggered Moments**

Author – Gabiroba

Pairing – Jack/Irina

A/U

Summary – Part two of the series 'Moments'. Another moment in the mixed up romance of the Bristows.

J/I – J/I – J/I – J/I – J/I – J/I

The snow fell softly around the cabin in the middle of woods. Inside, the fireplace was lit with a warm fire that heated the entire room. It heated the entire room, making its inviting feeling even more pronounced.

On the hearth, a couple was found, lying in each other's arms. The woman appeared so small, cradled in her partner's arms. Her hair cascaded over his chest while his arms held onto her tightly.

They had not a care in the world. This weekend was half over already, but it was theirs, and no one would take that away from them.

Their breathing was even and in tune with the others. The man's hand lazily made patterns on his lover's back, bringing her to consciousness. She looked up into his eyes with love in her eyes, and he returned her look with just as much adoration as hers.

It had been to long since they had been in each other's arms, and the two days they had already spent with each other had been perfect. She had missed the way he would hold her to his side and not let her leave. He missed how she fit in his arms as though she were his other half.

"I love you." He told her with a smile on his face.

"I love you too." She answered back with a smile just as big.

He brought his lips down to hers and gave her a few chaste kisses which soon became more passionate. His hands went to the back of her head and she straddled him, trying to get into his skin with him.

It didn't matter how much she got of his, and he of her, it was never enough. They needed each other like they needed air. They let all their feelings come out into their kisses. All the love, guilt, fear...everything they felt for each other they let pour out into every kiss, every touch, they shared.

When the need for air became too great they broke apart and kept their foreheads glued together, giving each other light peck; they couldn't break apart just yet.

"I hate that tomorrow night we have to go back to hating each other again." She breathes into her mouth.

"I hate it just as much as you do. I wish that I could come home and you to be there. I wish that I could fall asleep with you lying next to me after we've just made love."

"How much longer do we have to pretend?"

"You know the answer to that. As long as there are lunatics," he looked pointedly at her, "out there, we have to live separately. And as long as you are on the most wanted list we can't be together."

"I wish I had done so many things differently. Had I known that this was how my marriage was going to turn into I would have old you everything in the beginning before everything got out of had."

She pulled away from him. She still didn't understand how he could stand to look at her, much less want to touch her and make love to her after everything she had done to him and their daughter. She really did not deserve him.

He caught her before she could leave his side completely. "Where do you think you're going? I thought we'd had this conversation already. Both of us had it bad and you did what you thought was best. We are in this together. ´Forever and a day´, remember?"

He placed a kiss gently on her lips and held onto her closely again. She would not escape his grasp, even though she could if she wanted.

"You can say that you accept me as much as you like, it will not take away the guilt. I lost both my husband and my daughter for over twenty years. And when I finally get back to them, I mess things up again by a supposed prophet. How can you even stand to be in the same room as me? I have done nothing but hurt you and Sydney. How can you still say you love me?"

She was not going to let it go this time. They had never talked about anything. He ad forgiven her and they had fallen into each other's arms and continued like as if the twenty odd years apart had never happened. She needed to know why he had decided to trust her again, why he decided she was worthy of his love again.

"Why does it bother you so much?"

"Because I can't understand why you would do this. I don't understand what changed your mind about me."

"It wasn't just one thing that changed my mind, there were various actions you took that surprised me and made me realize why I fell in love with you in the first place. One, was the genuine look of defeat on your face the last time I saw you, after you told me the entire truth and I didn't respond to you. No one can fake something like that on the spot, not even the great Irina Derevko."

She nodded then spoke. "What about Irina Bristow? Do you think she can?" She had yet to call herself a Bristow because she was afraid that he might reject it. The truth was that she had considered herself a Bristow since she found out she was pregnant. That was when she had realized she was really, truly, in love with her husband. That was when she knew she would do anything to protect her family.

"Even Irina Bristow can't pull off that look unless she meant it." He smiled at her.

He already considered her a Bristow, but he didn't know how she felt. She was so independent and he knew how much she hated when he assumed things about her. He was not going to lose her over something as trivial as a last name. But now that e knew she wanted to be his wife in the fullest, even taking his name, and letting her be marked as his by it, he could not be any happier.

Irina was glad that he had accepted her taking his name. To some people it did not mean much. It was normal, you got married, you took your husband's name and that was the end of that. To her, it meant a lot because it meant that her husband was willing to take her back into his life completely, even if they couldn't show it publicly.

"Do you think that had I not taken the KGB´s offer and gone ahead with my parents´ dreams for me, we would have met?" She asked after they had languished in each other's company a while longer.

"I can't say for sure. I want to say yes, but that is because now that I have you I don't know how I ever survived without you."

"That's what I thought. We probably wouldn't have unless you had gone to Russia on assignment." She sat up and looked him in the eyes. "I am glad I took the KGB´s offer. It gave me you and our daughters and for that I will always be thankful, even if their ways were a little unorthodox."

"I feel the same way. Sure I could have done without the losing my wife and then finding out that she wasn't really lost but had been saying on me, but that just made you more exciting, and intriguing. I can talk about things with you that I couldn't with Laura."

"Yes, as Irina there are things that I can say to you that Laura would have never."

"Threatening to cut off parts of my anatomy is not something I would call a benefit of having you as my wife. It just makes it more dangerous."

She moved on top of him, glad for the change in the mood in their conversation. "But Jack, I thought that knowing that I am a spy, who can use knives efficiently, makes me more exciting." She nibbled at his ear after she said that.

"Exciting, sure, but also quite dangerous." He brought his hands up to her hips and pulled her closer to him. "Of course, I love danger." He flipped her underneath him and took control of the situation.

She laughed under him and encircled his neck with her arms. "I'm sure you do."

Those were the last words spoken for some time as they showed each other their love one more time.

Their life wasn't perfect, their time together was staggered, but until they could have the perfect life they had dreamed of when they were still younger, this was they would have to content themselves with. The stolen moments they got when he had time off and when she could escape from her cover with Sloan, they were the best they had.


End file.
